Indian Accent is set to move to The Lodhi from its present location, even as the country's best modern Indian restaurant gears up to open a third location in London

Chef Manish Mehrotra (Image courtesy: Indian Accent)

Indian Accent, the country’s premier modern Indian restaurant and helmed by Chef Manish Mehrotra, is set to light its hearth fire at The Lodhi hotel, shutting the doors on its existing property at The Manor later this month.

This move comes in the wake of what is popularly known, and still angrily tweeted by people deprived of their watering holes, as the #highwayliquorban. In any case, the move by the Supreme Court led to a literal drought for restaurants around the country as, deprived of their liquor licenses and thus the inability to serve that particularity of libation, they saw a sharp drop in clientele. At least when restaurants did serve liquor the clientele would only stumble.

While some establishments managed to circumvent the stricture, most other restaurants remain stymied, Indian Accent numbering among them. Since it opened in 2009, the first truly Modern Indian restaurant in every sense of the term, it has continued to set the benchmark for the cuisine; a cuisine which, as behooves its name, has spread all over the dining scene, at least in this country, and perhaps abroad. Also, as an aside, Instagrammers in Los Angeles loves their Dosa with some “Indian” Pesto and cheese, and preferably from a food truck. Just saying.

Chef Manish Mehrotra at Indian Accent, New Delhi (Image courtesy: Indian Accent)

With the Indian Accent in Delhi winning various accolades, including consecutive features on the annual Restaurant Magazine’s World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, and Mehrotra winning plaudits on a global level, the chef and restaurant's stars, or constellation, if you will has never shone brighter. New York acquired an Indian Accent last year, precipitated, no doubt, by something it ate, with London to set be home to a third.

Apart from people really liking to drink with their food, even if they now definitely can’t have one for the road. Speaking to CNN-News18 earlier, Mehrotra explained that Indian Accent used to enjoy a waiting list for reservations that could stretch up to a month, something rather unheard of in Delhi, but since the ban, waiting has become minimal, with seating sometimes available for walk-ins. While this is good news for food aficionados, it’s a fact that even ordering double dessert doesn’t compensate the price for a glass of decent red wine.

With its new location in Central Delhi, and evidently more importantly, a robust beverage list, Indian Accent promises to be deluged once again.

Chef Manish Mehrotra at Indian Accent, New Delhi (Image courtesy: Indian Accent)